Disclaimer: I don't own CSI, or the characters. I am simply borrowing them for fictional purposes.

Summary: There is a new serial killer walking the streets of Las Vegas and putting the team on edge. This is only magnified when Al Robbins is retires in the middle of the investigation and his replacement is not what they expected. (There is the case but I'll be focusing mainly on character development) All original characters (meaning Warrick, Grissom, and Sara are still in Las Vegas(or alive in Warrick's case), and no Raymond for the reason that I haven't really watched since Sara left and I don't really know him at all) Pairings: Sara/Greg, Nick/OC, Catherine/Warrick.

Chapter 1

Dissections

Sara, Warrick, and Greg were processing the scene. It was nearly identical to the others. Woman found tied up in her bed with her hair shaved, and the most disturbing similarity is the deep slash wound on her neck that sent a waterfall of blood as was cruelly shown on the bedroom wall. They had just arrived and Dr. Al Robbins was kneeling next to the body.

"Hey Doc, I haven't seen you at crime scene in a while." Warrick commented. David had been coming to crime scenes for some years now, relieving the older man.

Dr. Robbins groaned as he got to his feet and motioned the stretcher over. "David had a family emergency, so I had to pick up the slack. I don't mind, but I can't say the same about my back." he winced as he grabbed his cane and followed the body out to the ME van.

"Doc's not looking so good these days." Warrick said and gave Sara and Greg an uneasy glance. They were all worried about their older colleague but soon were immersed in work and forgot their earlier distress.

They were just passing the single shift mark, they had been working eight hours and Sara was still doing all that she could to hold back her anger. This was the sixth woman in three months. They had few clues and most of them led nowhere, Sara ached for justice, but it seemed so far out of reach. She stood up quickly and became dizzy. Greg walked into the room just in time to see Sara grasp the bed frame in an attempt to stay vertical. Greg rushed over and helped her stay standing.

"You okay Sar?" He asked worriedly.

Sara smiled to reassure him, but the weak smile did little to settle his worry. "Yeah, just stood up too fast. Guess I should have had dinner." She knew she shouldn't have let that slip, Greg would only worry.

He stayed silent but Sara knew very well that he was worried about her. Greg looked at his watch noting the time, "Why don't we catch lunch after shift?"

"I don't know, I was planning on going straight to bed." Sara said it without enthusiasm, but lost hope.

Greg wasn't entirely convinced, "Promise me you'll eat?" Sara smiled, Greg was always looking out for her.

Sara thought about her apartment, and the food (or rather lack thereof) was in it and frowned, contemplating. "You know, lunch sounds great." Greg gave her a reassuring smile and continued on working.

When all the evidence had been collected they headed out to the Morgue. Because of the frequency of the killings, the autopsies were put at top priority and to be done as soon as possible. Sara dreaded sitting through another autopsy. No doubt they would find the same thing as the other victims. Young woman, tied down, raped, then throat slashed, and now they face their final indignity of being cut open, organs removed, tissues tested, only to be sewed back together. She respected that autopsies had to be done, and they were necessary to catching killers, but she still didn't enjoy watching it happen. She grudgingly put on her shoe covers and walked in the room showing none of the dread she felt.

Greg and Warrick were already in there. Warrick was speaking easily with Dr. Robbins, and Greg (always wary of the morgue) was looking a bit nauseous.

"Sara! Good, we were just about to begin the dissection. External inspection gave no new evidence." No one in the room gave any notice that they saw Sara's shutter at the comment on dissection.

Al sliced through the flesh, fat, and eventually muscle. Greg turned away for the next step. All three CSI's flinched as the rib's snapped under the pressure of the shears. The autopsy proceeded as much like the previous five.

Midway through the examination David came in and handed Al a piece of paper. The ME stopped, his eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration. None of the CSI's dared ask, they all just waited for him to speak. "Mariah Daily, the victim was eight weeks pregnant."

Something about her being pregnant made it sadder. Although Greg didn't even know if that was possible. He was in the locker room waiting for Sara so they could go to lunch, more like dinner by the time they finally got out of the lab. Greg slipped off his shirt and put on a clean one. He was running out of shirts and remembered the growing pile of dirty clothes he needed to was in the next few days or he would run out of clothes entirely.

Greg looked around for Sara. 'She should be here by now', he thought.

Warrick came back in, and Greg raised his eyebrow. Warrick gave a sheepish grin and opened his locker revealing his reason for coming back to the break room. "Forgot my keys, I guess these killings are really occupying my mind."

Greg gave a tired smile, "Yeah, I think it's happening to everyone." Just then Sara walked in looking pissed.

"Ready to go?" She asked, anger still apparent in her voice and body language.

"Umm, yeah." Greg picked up his duffel bag of clothes and followed Sara out of the room after shooting Warrick a look of shock.

Greg was having a hard time keeping up with Sara without jogging the halls of the crime lab. People were watching, from all areas of the lab as they past. Ballistics, DNA, Fingerprints, Audio, etc. Everyone was watching Sara's little show with Greg pathetically tagging behind.

When they got to the parking lot Sara finally spoke, "We're going to the diner, right?" Her speech was tense, just as her posture.

"Sar, what's going on?"

She sighed her shoulders finally releasing the tension they held before. "Grissom is basically giving me a suspension."

"What? Why? You never did anything wrong." Greg knew what it was like to be suspended and he was baffled that Grissom would give her one when (to his knowledge) she hadn't done a thing wrong.

Sara started to look guilty, which confused Greg. "Ok, he's not really suspending me, he's making me take a day or two off. Says it's Mandatory." Still she looked put out. Greg was relieved, Sara was his best friend and not only was she not suspended. She'd finally get a few days rest, she had been working more than anyone else in the lab, and that was saying a lot. "I mean we're in the middle of an investigation, this is ridiculous!"

"Sar, maybe it's not such a bad thing. You're dead tired, and I doubt you've eaten in 24 hours. Look I'm not saying that I'm glad, I'm just saying use it to your advantage, and when you come back to work we'll have a fresh set of eyes." Greg tried to reason with her. Sara was not the person to be on the wrong side of a fight with.

She surrendered fairly easily. Actually Greg was shell shocked at how easily she let it go. Looking at her feet she replied "I guess so." After a long silence she asked again, "So the diner?"

Greg just smiled and nodded.

Dr. Al Robbins was a man of routine. Each autopsy (although unique) had a procedure to follow every time. He kept with a constantly rotating shift at work, and a routine he followed almost religiously. From the way he made his coffee in his office, to the lockup he preformed each night before he went home. Each night he would bid the secretary goodbye with a "Have a wonderful day, Grace."

But tonight was different

Tonight something was wrong because when he came out of his office he didn't turn to lock the door with his single key. He turned with a slightly shocked expression.

His voice was weak and rough as he spoke, barely holding himself up by the door frame. "Grace call an ambulance, I'm having a heart attack."

A/N - Sorry for the grammar and spelling it's never been my strong suit. Anyway thanks for reading, and I'll be sure to make the next chapter longer and involve more of the characters. Anyway thanks for reading, and again if you review! I'll admit I'm not looking forward to the criticism, but I promise to use it to make the story better. Thanks again!